Wednesday August 4th, as Kenyans cast their votes on the proposed draft constitution the Voice of Kibera community was reporting on their experiences in Kibera. 12 SMS reporters and 10 video journalists were on the ground from the break of dawn until after the votes were tallied to tell the world what was happening in their community.
On August 4th, Voice of Kibera received 35 individual SMS reports and published 8 videos on the Kibera News Network YouTube channel.
Here are some highlights:
SMS @ 6:49 am: Mobilisation started as early as 4am with youths waking up people by blowing vuvuzela here in kianda
SMS @ 8:03 am: At kibera primary skul, thea is good organisation. Pple r being asistd incase of a problem by the local youth.
SMS @ 10:18 am: Finaly,prime minister is here at old kibera p.s to cast his historic vote.
SMS @ 2:33pm: red or green,we are all black,lets maintain peace.youth 4 peace,kibera mashimoni.
The SMS reporters team met to debrief about the experience and discuss any challenges they encountered and successes to build upon for next time. Of the 11 reporters, 3 were not able to send any SMS messages on voting day. This was not due to instability or challenges but to the professionalism of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC). All three reporters were serving as poll clerks at polling stations around Lang’ata constituency. Unlike 2007, when voting way coordinated by the now disbanded Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), the IIEC took all appropriate measures to reduce the possibility of corruption. The mobile phones of all polling clerks were confiscated for the duration of the vote and they were warned against communicating information about the vote until the final official tallies were released.
Three of our other SMS reporters acted as official poll monitors who spent the day observing the activities at the polls. They too were impressed with the conduct of the IIEC and commended them on their leadership and coordination. One energetic poll monitor stayed from morning until the last vote was counted late in the evening. He was happy to report he was involved in negotiations over the validity of spoiled votes.
One major challenge echoed by all of our six official poll monitors and clerks was civic education. In the Lang’ata polling stations our group reported that between 3 and 10 percent of total ballots cast were spoiled. Many people used marks that weren’t the official check, x or dash that was required by the IIEC. A popular mark was a signature, which resulted in a spoiled vote. There was a call for continued civic education, especially with 2012 around the corner.
Kibera News Network highlighted the Referendum day events in Kibera, including celebrations the night before the historic vote. To watch more, check out the videos below.